


AU, She Wrote

by Lilian_Cho



Category: All New All Different Avengers, Ms. Marvel (Comics), The Avengers (Marvel) - All Media Types
Genre: Blue-eyed Tony so comics Tony, Canon Character of Color, Characters Are in Fandom, Characters Reading Fanfiction, Characters Writing Fanfiction, Chatlogs, Chatting & Messaging, Female Character of Color, Gen, Humor, I haven't read much 616!Sam at all, Kamala Writes Fanfic, Light-Hearted, M/M, Metafiction, Sorry if Sam's characterization feels off, Stony Bingo, Stony Bingo 2016, Wordcount: 1.000-5.000, Writer Kamala
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-01-05
Updated: 2017-01-05
Packaged: 2018-09-15 00:03:42
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,140
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9211010
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Lilian_Cho/pseuds/Lilian_Cho
Summary: Kamala Khan, writer of epic adventure genfics, secretly loves writing coffee shop AUs of her slash OTP. This wouldn't be a problem, except she mistakenly left the wrong notebook with Sam Wilson, the new Captain America...~~~Steve Rogers adjusted the leather portfolio under his arm as he entered his favorite coffee shop.Today was a productive day, he thought with satisfaction. The editors at Marvel comics had liked his artwork of the Avengers, although they thought his action scenes were not dynamic enough. Given that he based his action scenes on his teammates’ actual moves, he wasn’t sure how he could make it “more dramatic.”





	

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Cap Iron Man Community](https://archiveofourown.org/gifts?recipient=Cap+Iron+Man+Community).



> For the "chatlog" square on my Bingo card and my own Cap-IM community gift prompt.
> 
> Also for sassysnowperson's prompt: "Sam Wilson, therapy." It...went on a completely different tangent (therapy -->journal therapy -->Kamala writes fanfic). I'll write you a different drabble? ^^;;
> 
> ETA: Thanks Rea_Saint for looking it over!

When Kamala asked the new Captain America for advice about being a superhero, she did not expect him to suggest keeping a journal. After every mission, she was supposed to write and reflect on what she could have done differently and how the mission changed her. Kamala was expecting more tips on “How to stop feeling guilty about lying to my parents” and less Mrs. C’s English journal assignment, but it’s cool. Sometimes she would change a few things on her superhero-ing journal _and_ turn it in for Mrs. C’s class.

Cap had liked her initiative so much that he had _suggested_ Nova and Spiderman keep journals too. Miles started keeping one without protest—Kamala suspected he lurked in some of the same superhero fan sites she did. Nova, of course, complained (“I don’t need more homework on top of my actual homework!”) but did it anyway because he felt intimidated by Big Sam.

Big Sam never asked to see their journals, but Kamala showed hers to him from time to time, especially after tricky missions where she second-guessed her decisions. 

“Here’s what I wrote on last week’s mission,” she said, handing him a plain black composition notebook. 

“Great, I’ll take a look later,” Cap said, giving her a brief smile. 

Kamala was back in civilian clothes and all the way to the bus stop when she started to have a niggling feeling. She rummaged in her messenger bag and took out…an identical black composition notebook. 

“Oh. My. God.”

~~~

Steve Rogers adjusted the leather portfolio under his arm as he entered his favorite coffee shop. 

_Today was a productive day_ , he thought with satisfaction. The editors at Marvel comics had liked his artwork of the Avengers, although they thought his action scenes were not dynamic enough. Given that he based his action scenes on his teammates’ actual moves, he wasn’t sure how he could make it “more dramatic.”

But first, coffee.

“One long macchiato and a slice of apple cake, coming up.” 

~~~

Kamala’s mind was a string of _ohcrapohcrapohcrapohcrap_ as she sprinted back to where Cap was. Maybe he had not read it? No, her luck was never that good.

Unlike the usual adventure fics that she posted on the Internet, her coffee shop AUs only existed in her notebook. That was because _nobody else_ was supposed to read it. She wasn’t sure why she was all right with Bruno reading her other fics but not when it was Steve Rogers having coffee dates with Tony Stark. _Coffee shop AUs are her guilty pleasure, okay?_ Heaven forbid her _ammi_ ever learned of the existence of “slash feek”…

~~~

A stranger in a sharp business suit was sitting at his favorite spot. Normally Steve would just sit somewhere else, but the coffee shop was unusually full this afternoon.

“Excuse me, do you mind if I sit here?”

The man looked up at Steve’s voice. _Oh no, he’s so handsome_ , was Steve’s first thought. Then he saw the blood dripping into piercing blue eyes. 

“Are you alright?!” Steve rushed forward, dropping his portfolio and blindly grabbing some napkins.

“Huh?” The man blinked. “Oh, the blood. I ran into a cabinet edge earlier. The cut must have re-opened again.”

Steve was now pushing a wad of napkins in his direction.

“It’s just a shallow cut. I’m fine, really—” 

~~~

Captain America had his red sunglasses off, notebook open in hand. He was several pages in.

“ _I can explain!_ ” Kamala screeched, domino mask on but still in her civilian clothes.

“No, no—this is pretty good,” Sam said, not looking up from the handwritten pages. “So the Avengers are superheroes but still have civilian jobs, right? Steve is a comic book artist, Bucky and Natasha owns a coffee shop, and I own the flower shop next door.”

Kamala made a _meep_ sound.

“Thanks for not making me a pet shop owner, I guess.”

“I thought it would be too obvious, what with your telepathic connection to birds,” she said faintly.

“And Tony Stark is a—” 

_It could have been worse_ , her brain told her soothingly. _He could have found out my online handle and read the Captain America/Thor fic I wrote._

“—time traveling, shapeshifting dragon.”

~~~

He lifted his head, then looked up, and up again. Red-tinted gold filled his field of vision. The dragon’s shifting scales gleamed like interlocking plates of armor. A pair of red wings elegantly draped over his flank. 

When the dragon lowered his head, Steve saw piercing blue eyes.

“ _Beautiful_ ,” he breathed out.

Tony cocked his head, and Steve got the impression that if he possessed eyebrows in this form, he would be raising one sardonically.

“You’re beautiful,” Steve repeated. 

~~~

“I’m not feeling the love, Ms. Marvel. Tony gets to be a dragon and I’m a flower store owner?” Sam asked with a straight face. 

“You’re totally the main character in one of my recent fics!” She blurted out. _Shut up, Kamala, shut up!_ her brain shouted at her. _Too late._

“Oh?” Sam sounded intrigued.

 _Abort, abort_ , her brain urged.

“Uh, yeah, so!” She quickly ran her mouth off with the first thing she could think of. “Tony is in a journey of self-discovery because he found out that, _surprise!_ he is not baseline human, like he grew up believing. In fact, his parents might be of alien origin, except they were not aliens from the twenty-first century—”

~~~

Looking at the side-profile of the man who had come to mean so much to him, Steve could feel his heart breaking. 

“You’re leaving?” His voice caught at the last word, but he refused to feel embarrassed in front of his best friend.

Blue eyes looked back at him, filled with sad longing but also determination.

“Steve,” Tony said, voice indescribably gentle. “You always knew this day would come. I don’t belong to the here and now.”

~~~

“Dragons and their hoard, huh? I can see Tony being a dragon,” Sam said, tapping his chin. “At least Steve isn’t some crystal unicorn of destiny or something.”

“Ha ha ha,” Kamala said robotically. “Yes, unicorn Steve would be ridiculous. Out of the realm of plausible characterization.” (Somewhere in another unassuming composition notebook, was the AU of her own fic, where Steve was a distant cousin twice removed of the royal unicorn Rainbow Toots. Steve, Tony and Carol only found out about the connection after his cousin’s tragic demise at the claws of an evil space lobster.)

Sam looked at her funny. She told herself to stop twitching.

~~~

“That’s bull, and you know it,” Steve said heatedly. “You have lived here your entire life. Of course you belong here!”

Tony was quiet, brilliant eyes hooded as he looked at Steve towering over him. One would mistake him as feeling impassive about the situation, but Steve knew him better than that.

He abruptly stood up and placed both hands on Steve’s shoulders. Steve was a tall man, but Tony matched his height almost to the inch.

“Come with me.” 

“What?” Steve asked, bewildered. 

“Come with me, Steve,” Tony said, tone earnest. “You were not born to this time either. Come with me and we can live out our years in the past.” 

~~~

“I’m afraid to find out what will happen next,” Sam said, and Kamala couldn’t tell whether he was being sarcastic or not. 

“Right?” She had gone full-on fanfic writer mode. “If Steve goes back with Tony to the past, do they even have coffee shops in the 1940s? Maybe a café in France? Except, Nazi and Hitler and stuff. Can it still be called a coffee shop AU at that point?”

“Ms. Marvel?”

She straightened up. “Yes, Cap?”

“I’ll be taking that.” He grabbed the mission journal from her hands. 

“Yes. Right.” Kamala smoothed her now-empty hands down her jeans.

“And I’ll give you this,” Cap said, lifting her fic journal in his other hand, “when I've finished reading what happens next.”

“Yeah, okay…cool. That’s great,” she said in a fake cheerful voice. It was that or yell, _The current Captain America is reading my coffee shop AU starring the original Captain America and Iron Man!_

“Have fun!” She yelled after him.

 

_The next evening, on freakingcool.com_

IronManatee: So, when are you going to write the ending?  
SlothBaby: I’m sorry?  
IronManatee: The ending. You can’t just leave me hanging here  
_SlothBaby is typing…_  
SlothBaby: I think you have me confused with a different writer. I never post wips on this site.  
IronManatee: Oh I’m not talking about your freakingcool fanfics, although I enjoy those too. The planet unicorn one was fun.  
IronManatee: I’m talking about your coffee shop AU  
SlothBaby: !!!  
IronManatee: with the time-traveling dragon.  
_IronManatee is typing…_  
IronManatee: You know, I’m actually in the process of tracking down my birth parents. Funny how reality mimics fiction.  
SlothBaby: …Mr. Stark?!

~~~

Steve placed a hand on Tony’s right wrist. “You know I can’t, Tony. There’s nothing left for me in the past.” Bucky had followed him into the future. He had reconnected with Arnie and met his partner before they both passed away. All his friends, his life, were here in the future.

Tony let his hands fell off Steve’s shoulders, eyes dimming.

“I know,” he said softly, resigned. “Sometimes, I just wish—” 

~~~

IronManatee: The one and only.  
IronManatee: Is Tony going to time travel to the past? Is Steve going to let him go, just like that?  
SlothBaby: You were adopted?! How did you find me? Did Cap show you my notebook?  
IronManatee: Either that or genetically engineered by a sentient alien robot. Pick your continuity.  
_SlothBaby is typing…_  
IronManatee: What, did you think you were the only fan turned pro around here?  
IronManatee: Big Sam was reading your notebook and grinning a lot  
SlothBaby: oh my god I can’t  
IronManatee: so I got curious. Especially when I saw my name and Steve’s in there.  
SlothBaby: I’m so sorry! You must find it weird and creepy  >__<  
SlothBaby: I don’t know how I’ll be able to look you in the face anymore.  
IronManatee: Thankfully I’m in the armor 99% of the time during Avengers missions.

~~~

Another day, another post-mission briefing. Steve was barely paying attention, SHIELD’s subpar coffee at his elbow. 

Ever since Tony went away, everything seemed to lose its shine. Which was strange, considering that his routine had not changed much from before he met Tony. He still had the team, his friends, his artwork…

He stared into the dregs of coffee at the bottom of the paper cup. For weeks now, he hadn’t stepped a foot inside Bucky and Nat’s coffee shop. He couldn’t bear going and looking at their table, just to find it empty. 

~~~

IronManatee: If RPF about me and my teammates bother me, I wouldn’t visit Avengers fan sites.  
SlothBaby: …that’s true.  
SlothBaby: I’m still really, really sorry!  
IronManatee: Kid, when I was your age I wrote multiple self-insert Invaders fanfic.  
IronManatee: Believe me when I say I’m not judging you.

~~~

Steve pulled himself up the platform as multiple explosions rocked the abandoned factory. 

When he caught his breath, he saw that the villain of the week was pinned under a huge red and gold claw. The remote to the doomsday device laid broken in pieces next to the terrified man.

“Tony,” he said, not daring to believe his eyes.

The dragon swung his head around, eyes the same crystal pools of blue. 

“You came back.”

All around them, the Avengers were capturing (or, in Natasha’s case, incapacitating) fleeing henchmen, but Steve only had eyes for one man. 

“Is nobody going to mention the giant dragon in the room?” Clint shouted over the comms, “or why it’s trading soulful gazes with Cap?”

~~~

IronManatee: It’s going to be a happy ending, right?  
IronManatee: It’s not a coffee shop AU without a happy ending.  
SlothBaby: out of curiosity  
SlothBaby: how many coffee shop AUs have you read?  
IronManatee: I like the Starkbucks ones. I wish I actually own Starbucks.  
IronManatee: You’re one of my favorite fanfic writers because I love your happy endings.  
SlothBaby: !!! I’ll do my best!  
IronManatee: Night, M&M. Don’t fall down the TVTropes hole.  
SlothBaby: Good night, Mr. Stark!

~~~

Steve opened the coffee shop door to the sound of tinkling bells.

“What’s with the bell at the door?” he asked at the register.

Bucky shrugged. “Natasha said it lends to the atmosphere.”

“It's our concession to the holiday season,” Natasha said, handing him his usual, and an extra slice of apple cake.

“Thanks, Nat.” Steve grinned.

He walked to his usual table, where a man was already sitting with his own coffee and pastry. He looked handsome in his bespoke gray suit and red silk tie. 

“Excuse me, do you mind if I sit here?”

Tony looked up, eyes crinkling in a brilliant smile. “Only if I can take you out to dinner afterward.” 

~~~

**Author's Note:**

> Please do point out SpaG errors. Feedback = <3
> 
> ~~  
> [Prompt me](http://lilian-cho.tumblr.com/post/153939143905/drabble-meme) a character or two and a word/phrase, and I'll write a 100-word drabble (or a shortfic, apparently). Just comment here, [reblog](http://lilian-cho.tumblr.com/post/153939143905/drabble-meme), or send me an ask.  
> Fandoms: _Avengers, Yuri on Ice, XM:FC_ and _Harry Potter_.  
>  ~~
> 
> If you feel I'm referring to a particular fanfic, you're probably right. (But link me anyway in case I haven't read it.)
> 
> You've probably read all of the following:  
> \- [TinyDragon!Tony coffee shop AU, with bonus Sam/Bucky](http://archiveofourown.org/works/2763539) (Some Dragons Are Famous Dragons by Eudoxia)  
> \- [Adopted!Tony Stark is actually a dragon! Surprise! Bye Steve, I'm back Steve.](http://archiveofourown.org/works/5457260) (Drakovich by laudatenium)  
> \- [TeamDad!Tony gives Kamala "M&M" for a superhero nickname](http://archiveofourown.org/works/7363810/chapters/16726027) (Tony Stark Advises the Avengers by copperbadge)  
> \- [kid!Tony wrote self-insert Invaders fic. Steve accidentally read one! Tony wants to die!](http://archiveofourown.org/works/2336612) (snow.txt by sineala) + [fancomic by spaceliondad](http://spaceliondad.tumblr.com/post/149441586609/fanfic-author-appreciation-day-was-a-few-days-ago)


End file.
